Pergear 10mm F/8-Fishcap

Pergear is not really a lens manufacturer in that sense. It’s a Hong Kong distributor for all kinds of Chinese photo stuff of varying quality. And they also sell a few lenses and SD cards under their own name.

A few people in China took a look at the Olympus fishcap, said “we can do that thingy too” and milled the whole thing out of sheet metal. And because 43 has been dead since birth anyway, they built it for APS-C. So on mft it’s not really a fish, but just a wide-angle with a fat barrel.

The lens is listed at Pergear at 75 euros, you get a nice plastic box with it. Compared to the “original” it looks like this:

I was out and about with the Pergear today and immediately noticed the biggest flaw in the design. The Olympus Fishcap has a plastic cover that you can slide in front of the lens to protect it – the Pergear doesn’t have that. In the current rainy weather this is stupid. And it’s not possible to simply slide it into the photo bag with the Pergear – you’ll scratch the front lens in no time at all.

The residual points should not be underestimated either. The Fishcap has a shorter focal length, a much wider angle of view and a tactile point on the slider for the hyperfocal distance. And a close focusing distance of 20cm. The Pergear has none of this, so you really have to focus with the slider and viewfinder magnifier. The hyperfocal distance is not – as you might expect – at the bottom center. So check again and again. You can’t just hold it down and shoot like with the fishcap.

As you can see, the difference in the angle of view is considerable. However, this is not exactly the same position, I was shooting from a gate and I tried with both lenses to ensure that the gate did not shade the corners. I had to go a little further into the courtyard with the fishcap, so in a direct comparison the angle of view of the fishcap would be even wider. With APS-C, the angle of view should be 150° according to pergear. With mFT, the angle of view corresponds to a normal lens with a focal length of 10mm, i.e. around 95°. The only difference is that the edges are curved, but you can get that for free with many mFT lenses if you switch off the distortion correction.

As the angle of view is much smaller, the depth of field is also smaller. As weird as it is, with the Pergear you have to work a lot with the viewfinder magnification so that all the image components that you want to be sharp are sharp in the end.

Even in the low resolution, you can see that the fishcap – below – is sharper with the trees in the background. In the foreground, both are equally sharp. However, another difference becomes clear in this image: the fishcap provides clear purple edges – the pergear does not. Unfortunately, the Pergear frays the fine edges. Which is better is a matter of taste.

The biggest problem with the Pergear, however, is that you are constantly readjusting the focus. Just hold it, snap, done – it doesn’t work. The slider is constantly shifting and then nothing fits anymore. You’re constantly chimping if you want sharp pictures. Then you have to keep holding the camera with the lens down in the drizzle because the front lens has no protection, which means the eye sensor gets wet, so you’re constantly wiping something on the camera.

As a fishcap user, you’re not used to that. The price of the Pergear is barely less than the fishcap, the frayed contrast edges are not really an advantage and the focus readjustment is annoying. And no protection for the front lens and no lockable HyFo. And no 20cm close focusing distance. And an angle of view of less than 100° instead of 130°.

I have no idea who would want that.